The longest winter

Tips for making it through 6 months of gray skies:


Embrace silly.


Go camping...indoors.


Meet up with a good friend for some retail therapy.


Celebrate the ones you love.




Greet everyone who enters or exits your home with a kiss.


When you're surrounded, learn to fit in with the opposite sex.


Keep a silly hat collection and a good friend collection; blend often.

Thank you, Saint Valentine

...for upholding love, no matter the cost.

Despite what many people think, Valentine's Day is NOT a Hallmark Holiday. That would be Sweetest Day, which is a ruse which only aggravates those of us who try to counter the eye-rolls of our cynics.

Saint Valentine was a Roman bishop in 270 AD who held secret wedding ceremonies for young couples. Claudius II ruled the Roman empire during a time when Rome faced crisis from all sides; from the Gauls, Slavs, Turks and Mongolians of Northern Europe and Asia. Naturally, more and more capable men were required to to be recruited as soldiers and officers to protect the nation from takeover.

Claudius felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, would not make good soldiers. He believed that marriage made the men weak. So he issued an edict forbidding marriage to ensure quality soldiers. Hearts broke across the land, as courtships were destined to remain that and nothing more.

St. Valentine helped young couples in love take their vows, and go on to have families. He was eventually jailed and killed for these acts. He died without apology for upholding the most sacred of emotions: love.

And boy, do we celebrate it.
It's a big time at the Sands house every year—complete with decorations, glittery crafts, and hand-trimmed & glued valentine cards.


That weekend, I did my annual indoor scavenger hunt that treats Ella, Carson, and Derek to something fun tucked in a nook of every room. While I am normally think of myself as a down-to-earth minimalist, something about the month of February turns me into a glitter-laden fairy who passes out kisses like candy.



This year, Pam and I co-lead a writing & yoga workshop..."The Art Of Writing A Loveletter."

The final fun?
Being a room mother for Ella's Kindergarten Valentine party.



I sat down on the 14th to rock Carson to sleep, and Ella came in the room with a box of conversation hearts. She giggled, "Mom, look - this one is about you!"

YOU'RE
THE
BEST!

it said. I grinned and hugged her, glanced across the hall into my bedroom at a huge bouquet of roses from Derek. I held Carson tight, and he held me back.

Love. What else matters?